Wait ... Kaladin's impressions at the end

[Nitpicking]

Sorry about the vague title, but they appear on the Forum's front page and have to be spoiler-free.

In WaT chapter 144, Kaladin's impression as he becomes a Herald:

Quote

Warmth flooded through Kaladin, like the warmth of Stormlight, but less about motion, more about … stability.

Stability? Did Sazed-as-Harmony (or Preservation) help create the new Heralds? What other Shard would have stability as an attribute?

[Ashbringer he/him]

Perhaps not Sazed, but I wouldn’t be too surprised if something about the nature of a Herald’s power changed, either from proto-Honor or Retribution’s influence. Kaladin did become a Herald after Retribution. As you mention, “stability” seems mostly a Preservation attribute rather than another Shard’s, save maybe Mercy?

That being said, it could be that the Heralds are often powered differently than Stormlight and recieve a different impulse. They’re not always fighters. Kaladin in particular isn’t looking for a drive to fight, anymore, he’s looking for peace and the ability to help where he can.

And Heralds are gaining large chunks of Honor, enough that perhaps seperate or together they gain different attributes.

[RedBlue]

I didn’t get the impression that a Shard was directly involved, and I’d be shocked if Harmony had anything to do with it.

I’d guess the feeling of warmth was linked to stuff happening in the Spiritual Realm as Kaladin’s Spiritweb changes and expands to accommodate the new Herald features.

[AlmightyGir]

2 hours ago, RedBlue said:

I didn’t get the impression that a Shard was directly involved, and I’d be shocked if Harmony had anything to do with it.

I’d guess the feeling of warmth was linked to stuff happening in the Spiritual Realm as Kaladin’s Spiritweb changes and expands to accommodate the new Herald features.

That's how I interpreted it as well... Stormlight is a temporary Investment, the energy passes in and out of your spirit web as you acquire and use it. But Kaladin's power is now anchored to his web in the Spiritual Realm, it's now a static part of his being.

[LeondeBowa]

I don't have a quote but it rings similar to how lift described the feeling of what we thought of at the time as stormlight (it was actually lifelight) during her short story.

Maybe cultivation has taken up the heralds from a distance?

[AlmightyGir]

That might make some sense...

I cannot fathom a Cosmere in which Retribution does not know that the Heralds still exist, and hold his investiture, and would not immediately find a way to either control or dissolve them.

In the same vein, the Heralds are currently going through a phase of growth...

[Jult]

I don't think any Shard was directly involved here. Cultivation had already fled when the Heralds made the decision to revive the Oathpact. The Heralds already had a connection to Honor and chose to bind it via their oaths. Honor's involvement in Oathpact 2.0 is the same as Odium's involvement in Oathpact 1.0. 

Quote

"... Yes," Ishar said. "We bear Honor's power. Much as our Connection to Odium helped us bind him and his spren long ago, our Connection to Honor could let us bind Retribution. In a small way.” The elderly Herald wiped blood from his mouth. "We could maybe prevent him from taking the spren to himself. We could seal away that part of his power, weaken him. Yes... Yes, that could work."
"You mean ..." Nale said.
"We must reforge the circle," Ishar replied. "If the spren are to be preserved, if a Splinter of Honor is to be kept from Retribution's touch, we must stand tall again. Reaffirm our oaths, exploit that weakness he made in himself for us."

 The last thing Ishar says there is pretty interesting though. "exploit the weakness he made in himself for us". I may be homing in too much on the specific word-choice here and interpreting meaning where there is none. But saying "made for us" instead of something like "exposed to us" sounds as if Ishar believes Tanavast intentionally left them this loophole. Future-sight planning? 

[Treamayne]

43 minutes ago, Jult said:

The last thing Ishar says there is pretty interesting though. "exploit the weakness he made in himself for us". I may be homing in too much on the specific word-choice here and interpreting meaning where there is none. But saying "made for us" instead of something like "exposed to us" sounds as if Ishar believes Tanavast intentionally left them this loophole. Future-sight planning? 

Possible, but more likely refering to the Connection Honor has to the Heralds, and the Splinters of Honor expressed as their honorblades (both of which are weaknesses in a Shard that can be exploited) - and in this case Honor (Tanavast) specifically made those Connections, and reinforced them over the millenia as well as slightly weakening himself through voluntary Splinters (Stormfather and the Honorblades). 

[Jult]

3 minutes ago, Treamayne said:

Possible, but more likely refering to the Connection Honor has to the Heralds, and the Splinters of Honor expressed as their honorblades (both of which are weaknesses in a Shard that can be exploited) - and in this case Honor (Tanavast) specifically made those Connections, and reinforced them over the millenia as well as slightly weakening himself through voluntary Splinters (Stormfather and the Honorblades). 

Right. Those are definitely the weaknesses that Ishar was referring to. What I was speculating was that Ishar believes Tanavast was intentionally creating those weaknesses in Honor as part of a Leras-style long con. As if Tanavast planned for his death and wanted to make sure the Heralds were in a position to prevent Honor's next Vessel from completely undoing what Tanavast had created on Roshar (mainly the Spren).

That's probably giving Tanavast too much credit though. He's no Leras. He admitted himself that he was bad at future-sight. Ishar is probably just putting too much faith in his 'god'. Or, again, I'm likely reading way too much into one sentence.